Most of these deals are paid for with borrowed money and the banks who have loaned this cash have been laying off a large proportion of the loans by selling them to other investors.

However because investors are bruised by their losses in the US sub-prime mortgage market, they are now less keen now on buying the risky loans from the banks, taking away the credit needed for takeovers and prompting share prices to fall.

Within the stock markets, bonds have rallied, with investors looking for assets that could guarantee them steady, and relatively safe returns.